The New York Times recently released their list of the 45 places to go in 2012. Some were obvious (8. Tokyo) some were controversial (3. Myanmar ) some were just strange (20. Space?).

In 2011 I visited two of the places on the list: 15. Halong Bay, Vietnam, which is already completely overrun by tourists (but that’s another story), and 23. the Cambodian coast and surrounding islands (specifically Koh Rong) near Sinoukville, which is not. This post is a focus in the latter and what to do there if you are somewhere in between a dirty backpacker and a New York Times traveler.

I wanted to give specific advice on sleeping/eating/drinking/doing as I think this is one the few times during my six week trip I got it all right.

Sleep: Mushroom Point. The guesthouse is most accurately described a campus of little mushroom like bungalows. Located a stone’s throw away from Otres Beach, the quietest of the Sinoukville beaches, this place has amenities all the right places: clean sheets, stylized décor, good music. The vibe is similar to that of a café in Portland in that many guests lye around the lobby all day, drink Black Panther (Chinese) beer and tap away on their laptops. Except between 4-6 pm when the yoga class is held.

Full disclosure: The couple that run the place are Slovenian and while they may have escaped the Balkan temperatures, their mannerisms are a bit… icy. Nonetheless, they are on the whole helpful. Don’t be intimidated, just prepared.

The mushrooms are $25 /Rooms $10/ Dorm rooms $7 a night.

Eat: Again Mushroom Point. The Slovenian ownership is also manifested on the menu, in a good way aka great schnitzel. All of the vegetables grown used in the kitchen are grown in the garden on site.

Drink: Sunshine Café is the barrier in between Mushroom Point and Otres Beach. The place is run by a Polish woman who makes some of the freshest and best tasting cocktails I have ever had and at $2.50 for a pint sized mojito with fresh mint and lime, probably some the cheapest.

Do: If you made it all the way to Sinoukville, you have to check out the islands off the coast. Any guesthouse can book it for you. The place we booked it through even gave us a bag of beer as they pushed us out to sea at 8 am.

And make sure you go to Koh Russei, specifically the beach on the Southwest side of the island. Please please please do not be deterred by the 20 minutes walk through the jungle among the millipedes or else you will be stuck on the garbage beach, miserable and angry that you took my advice. Once you make it to through millipede forest, you will find yourself on one of the most beautiful and untouched beaches I have ever seen. The beach is only inhabited by what I can only describe as the most “authentic” commune I have ever seen, and probably what most people are looking for when the go visit the island on which they filmed “The Beach” in Thailand. They were even playing Moby’s “Porcelain” when we arrived.

Buddhist monks walk through chest-high water as floods inundate Ayutthaya province in Thailand on Monday.  Flooding during an unusually heavy monsoon season has caused nearly 500 deaths to date and millions of evacuations in Thailand and neighboring Cambodia.  (Photo: AFP-Getty via CNN)

This week, four former leaders of the Khmer Rouge go on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. In the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge regime killed 1.7 million Cambodian people, about 25% of the population, making it proportionally the deadliest regime of the 20th century. This is the second trial of former leaders of the the regime. The first brought charges against the head of the security prison, or  S-21,  a place that at its peak killed 100 people a day. He was sentenced to prison for 35 years, a sentence that has recently been reduced to 19. 

These are just a few of the 7,000 skulls encased in a monument in the Killing Fields outside Phnom Penh memorializing the millions that died under the Pol Pot Regime. 

Tower of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh on a gloomy Cambodian afternoon. 

After taking power in 1975, it is estimated that the Khmer Rouge killed 1.7 million Cambodians over the next three and a half years.  People who were considered to be a “threat” to the regime, were brought to facilities such as Security Prison 21 (or S-21) in Phnom Penh and brutally interrogated. A former high school, the Khmer Rouge converted the classrooms into tiny prison and torture chambers.

 Similar to the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge meticulously photographed each prisoner that entered the prison before they were tortured or imprisoned and eventually sent to the Killing Fields. At its peak, approximately 100 people a day were killed at the S-21.

 In 1979, the Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia and toppled the Khmer Regime. When a Vietnamese war photographer discovered the prison only seven people were still alive. The prisoners had used their skills as a photographer, painter and mechanic in order to survive.

Just one year after the Vietnamese invasion, the prison was reopened as a Tuol Seng Genocide Museum, leaving everything that remained upon discovery basically intact.

Today Cambodians are still awaiting justice for what happened at S-21. Many former leaders of the Khmer Rouge who are still alive today, claim to know nothing of the atrocities committed in this facility. 

One of the cons of going to Angkor Wat in May is that the average temperature is 99 degrees farenheit and humid. The pros are that because of the unappealing weather, there are not many other visitors.  So instead of feeling like you are being funneled along the tourist gauntlet, you can stop and fully appreciate the world’s largest religious building.

In Southeast Asia, Buddhism exists alongside traditional animist beliefs. The most concrete manifestation of this are the spirit houses which you see outside of almost every home and business establishment. Most simply, the houses meant to provide appealing shelter for spirits who would otherwise reside in the heavens. The style of a spirit house is dependent on the type of spirit one wants to attract. Construction is a specialized field and the houses must be built by a specialized spirit house builder who is also familiar with the necessary rituals so that the spirit will find the house to be a suitable earthly abode. 

Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia

Chiang Rai, Thailand 

Heading back before it all falls apart. 

Floating Kindergartens - 1.5 million people rely on Tongle Sap lake, the largest freshwater lake in Asia, for their livelihoods. Located about 15 km from Siem Reap, Cambodia, this particular community is made up of up of approximately 500 families from two different ethnic groups - half Vietnamese and half Cham. These people live, learn, farm and shop on the lake. 

Close-ups of the detailing on Angkor Wat’s many temples. 

Ancient Khmer writing, which is derived from Sanskrit

Even after centuries of construction most of the temples were never completed.

The actual Angkor Wat is covered with 1700 of these dancers.